Silence Therapeutics Receives Allowance from USPTO for its Core RNAi Patent
Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
Silence Therapeutics plc has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed the Company's core RNAi patent application.
The Patent Office issued a 'Notice of Allowance' for patent application 10/633,630, "Interfering RNA Molecules," which covers stabilized, small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules with defined positional modifications.
The claims cover siRNA molecules that are "blunt ended," as well as molecules with one or more "overhangs" and specifically cover Silence Therapeutics' proprietary siRNA molecules, known as "AtuRNAi".
The company also announced it has received a Notice of Acceptance from the Australian Patent Office for patent application No. 2003260370 entitled "Further novel forms of interfering RNA molecules." The European equivalent of the US and Australian patent applications was granted by the European Patent Office in January 2007.
Silence considers its AtuRNAi to be best-in-class siRNA molecules based on important advantages over conventional siRNA molecules, including increased stability against nuclease degradation and an increased serum half-life, while retaining therapeutic activity.
AtuRNAi molecules form the basis of Silence's therapeutic research and development collaboration with AstraZeneca, as well as the Company's license and collaboration agreements with Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc.
In addition, Silence is developing an internal, proprietary pipeline of systemically delivered AtuRNAi molecules that are initially focused on oncology indications.